"We are all hostages of drama": Yuri Moroz - about the third season of "Kept Women", the series "Gloom River" and the cons of acting

- You joined the "Kept Women" in the third season.

How did you feel changing colleagues? 

- This is not a question of feelings, but a question of artistic and creative tasks that the project poses.

Work to be done considering what has been done before you.

But, naturally, we tried to find something new for ourselves, for the group, and for the actors - so that everyone would be interested.

- Do you have a fear of not living up to the expectations of those who closely follow history?

- We are all hostages of drama.

It is clear that this is the third season, but the producers set new creative tasks, new storylines appeared, new characters were introduced.

The third season will be different from the first two anyway.

And it is not for us to judge whether those who love the series will like it or not.

Everything has already been done, let's wait for the reaction, we'll see.

But there is no fear.

- Tell us more about what has changed in the third season.

You mentioned new storylines.

Maybe the style has changed, the general approach?

- When you are filming a sequel, it is better not to experiment and stay in the mode that was set earlier. 

Stylistically, I like the first season more, so I gravitated towards his picture.

Moreover, the third part of the picture was filmed by the same operator.

But we naturally changed something.

I tried to add more chemistry, neon, to make the picture more acidic.

Plus, I have formed such an image that all the characters of "Kept Women" live in a closed, isolated space, as if in an aquarium.

They live in houses in gated communities, drive cars to glass offices.

It all reminds me of moving from one enclosed space to another, from one aquarium to another.

Taking this solution as a basis, we tried to implement it on the screen.

- Why did you choose this color scheme?

Is this an idea or is it your personal preference?

- Neon, sparkles, scales on dresses - all this shimmers, which also a little resembles the life of fish, shiny and isolated, which you can observe in an aquarium.

They swim, live some kind of life of their own ... Perhaps they are watching us too, if they are interested in us.

These are two worlds that do not correlate with each other.

- How did this story about secular Moscow initially hook you?

- This is a modern story.

I made a lot of historical films, and it was interesting for me to try myself in a different capacity.

Moreover, almost immediately after the "Gloomy River" I jumped into this project.

I needed to knock down the picture that was in front of my eyes, so I took up this topic.

- What time is more comfortable for you to work with?

- Probably with historical pictures.

Maybe because interesting dramatic material often comes across there.

I had many different art stories - the Brothers Karamazov, and the same Pelagia and the White Bulldog.

It was written by our contemporary Akunin, but still on this topic.

• Yuri Moroz on the set of the series "Kept Women"

• © Video service START

- Historical plots are increasingly being transferred to the present.

A modern adaptation of Anna Karenina was recently announced.

How do you feel about such decisions?

- This is the actualization of the classics, it will always be.

And here it all depends on the measure, taste and talent.

And then: now it is impossible to force a person to read Anna Karenina or, God forbid, War and Peace (and even worse, The Brothers Karamazov!).

But somehow it is necessary to acquaint the audience with the classics.

And this is a good way to tell a long-written story in modern language.

I'm kidding, of course.

But nevertheless, this is another reason to look at her.

What will be fundamentally different for the same “Anna Karenina”?

Anna, Vronsky, her husband will still remain.

This "triangle" will appear anyway.

- Returning to "The Kept Women" - after the release of the previous seasons, the abundance and frankness of bed scenes was actively discussed.

Will there be as many of them in Season 3?

- Enough, I would say so.

But I approach this kind of scene in a slightly different way.

For me, this is not an end in itself.

The transition of a woman and a man to this state requires some preparation.

I tried to make every bed scene dramatically and psychologically justified.

- Are you comfortable working on such scenes?

- I don’t think anyone is comfortable working on such scenes, starting with the actors and ending with the group.

This is, in a sense, an extreme situation.

But I didn't have any problems, since everything was already worked out by the artists in the first two seasons.

We talked through all the scenes, and then just filmed, and that's it.

Work is work.

- Has it ever happened in your memory that the actor could not be liberated in such a scene?

- I usually do not discuss such things with actors.

But I know everyone is uncomfortable.

Getting naked in public is not easy, so there is a certain amount of discomfort.

I know there have been cases when an artist walked naked around the set.

This, as they say in our profession, is from clamping.

For some reason, our European colleagues and Americans feel more comfortable in this.

I don’t remember the name of the picture with Depardieu, when he walks around naked for half the film ... I see what degree of freedom there is.

He is absolutely free, it doesn't hold him at all.

In our Russian nature, mentally and psychologically, there is a closeness in this matter.

No matter how hard we try and get loose, we will still be squeezed.

- Do you think this will never change?

And on our screen they began to speak openly on such topics ...

- They began to talk about this openly on the platforms, and this is a limited show.

It seems to me that on no federal channel is such a degree of frankness possible as in "Kept Women".

In addition, a certain audience comes to the platforms, ready to watch it and perceive it normally.

The bulk of the audience in our country is not ready.

And if he looks, then with condemnation.

• Filming of the series "Kept women"

• © Video service START

- Do the filming of the series for the video service and for television differ greatly?

- The process is the same: it's still a television picture.

There is a fundamental difference if you are shooting films not for television, but for film distribution, when you have to take into account the size of the screen.

Television is more based on close-ups, and films are shot wider, there is such a feature.

Plus a large degree of freedom.

On federal channels there are restrictions on advertising, on the display of some items.

For example, if there is a car in the frame, then its icon must be covered up.

This is all permissible here.

- Previously, you have worked with your daughter Daria several times, but in the series "The Kept Women" she first acted as a producer.

How do you like this format of cooperation?

- In due time, I will encourage Dasha to start producing.

And she, unlike many, has a production background, so this is a normal, natural transition.

She could not take this step for a long time, but she did it here, and I hope that it was quite successful.

I am very happy for her, and I was comfortable with her.

- Why did you want her to try herself in this area?

- The acting profession is very dependent.

And often it depends on age and proposals.

When an actor, especially a woman, crosses a certain age line, the roles end.

Sitting, waiting to be called to play the role of grandmother is not the best life.

It's no secret that many of our older generation actors did not live out their time very well.

Of course, when you have another profession, this transition seems to me more logical and calm.

Although Dasha, in the sense of the acting profession, everything is going well, many may envy.

But all the same, I'm glad that she is doing this, and I think she will continue to do it.

She is very active, she can move mountains.

She should be able to do it.

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Publication from Yuri Moroz (@moroz_film)

- Your previous project, the TV series "Gloom River", caused a wide response.

The audience was dissatisfied with the ending, and discussed other deviations from the original source.

How did you react to the criticism that came down?

- A terrible thing!

I do not read criticism, that is, comments.

By and large, they are not interesting to me: nothing can be changed, I did what I did.

I know more about the painting than everyone else.

When someone criticizes me for something, he is mistaken if he thinks that I did not think about it.

I know better all the errors that exist.

And why they have arisen, I also know.

Everyone looks at the finished picture, but how it was created, in what conditions we often shoot - no one thinks. 

Many people compared the series with the previous picture, but these are completely different projects.

Why is the ending like this?

If you carefully look at and connect all the pictures and puzzles that are laid there, the ending is logical.

The main character, Prokhor, is an unbeliever.

Instead of a cross, he has a medallion.

An attentive viewer will notice that on this medallion there is a person who has hell below and heaven above.

The path of Prokhor, who still wanted to build a city of the Sun, moved up.

But for some reason, when he got there, he ended up at the very bottom.

Prokhor is a pagan.

When he rebelled against the Sun, against Nature, of course, she punished him.

Hence the meteorite.

- Apparently, many expected the series to be closer to the text ...

- See which is closer to the text.

A healthy guy broke half a taiga, built a huge city there - factories, factories, railways ... Suddenly he goes crazy, climbs a tower and rushes down.

I immediately ask the question: "Wait, wait, wait a second, what is he suddenly?"

Shishkov read The Brothers Karamazov very carefully.

There are two characters - Mitya, from him Prokhor and written off, and Ivan, who is such, "with a subversion", as they say.

And so, Ivan goes crazy.

And here Ivan is not, there is no man in the opposite direction.

Therefore, Prokhor goes mad, the incompatible unites.

Such a person, in my opinion, cannot end up like this.

But this is my subjective opinion.

- "Gloomy River" is not your first adaptation of a literary work.

Are there any other books that you are planning or just would like to film?

- There are no such plans yet.

I have not finished my story with Akunin.

“Pelagia and the White Bulldog” was filmed, “Pelagia and the Black Monk” was still planned, but for a number of reasons this adaptation did not take place.

I'm generally interested in Akunin.

He is beautiful.

From the classics, perhaps, something else could be possible ... But there are our desires, and there are opportunities.

The latter are more dependent on the producers.

• Yuri Moroz on the set of the series "Gloomy River"

• © kinopoisk.ru

- Also recently came out your series "Theory of Probability".

It was filmed five years ago, but the viewer saw it only this year.

What is the reason for this?

- All the events of the series, which was started as a story of love, friendship and betrayal, unfold in a casino.

They could have taken place, I don't know, at the factory, and then, probably, it would have been shown earlier.

And casinos, as you know, are prohibited in our country.

Most likely, it was related to this.

I don't know for sure, but this is the only excuse that I can suggest, because when the series switched from Channel One to Russia 1, they took and changed the cap.

There were completely different opening credits, also related to cards and dice.

- Have you been waiting for the premiere all these years?

- Sure.

The series was already on the Internet, but in monstrous quality.

If he got there in normal quality, I would not worry at all.

And in this, and even with some kind of putty, changing the text ... Then, when shown on the platform, I thought: "Well, thank God, at least on the Internet it will be in normal quality."

We make films not for ourselves, but for the audience.

And I was worried about the actors, they have wonderful roles there.

Especially for Sasha Child, who had a very difficult task - to play the blind, while remaining sexually attractive.

It's very difficult, almost impossible, and the way she did everything - I think it's great.

- In recent years, Russian TV shows have reached a fundamentally new level and began to attract much more viewers than, say, 5-10 years ago.

What do you think is the reason for this?

- A large number of platforms have appeared, competition has increased at times, and it is already impossible to shoot a series just like that.

you should

to shoot a good story, and with high quality, if you want you to have a viewer.

Plus, of course, it has to do with finances.

When platforms start working, money is pumped into them.

- Why do you think directors who have worked in cinema for a long time are switching to serials?

Is it also a matter of opportunities, or are interests changing?

- Because of the opportunities that are opening up.

Previously, some directors would not have shot serials, because a) uninteresting material, b) taboo on some topics.

Now the topics have become broader, more interesting, there are many things to talk about.

This is the first thing.

Secondly, there was money.

You can be offered a very good story for a penny, and you will not subscribe to it, because you will not do it well, you will not have such an opportunity.

And when both appeared, everything became possible.

- What do you think is still lacking in Russian TV shows so that they can fully compete with the products of Netflix and other major platforms?

- At one time, Soviet films competed on different sites, because there was such an industry in the state economy - the film industry.

There was a centralized management, centralized rental, and the state gave money for production.

Pictures were shot at state studios and went to the state rental, and the money was returned to the state.

Now everything is exactly the opposite.

The state helps to produce paintings, then they go to a private production company, and she shares the profit with private rental.

Accordingly, it immediately lowers the level.

In order to defeat the enemy, it is necessary to unite, and all the producing structures are disunited.

Sometimes we don't have enough strength.

And some serious victories are mainly associated with state funding - there is no getting away from this.

- Hollywood studios are also increasingly producing serials, and less often - full-length films.

In addition, over the past year, many viewers have lost the habit of cinemas and have become more likely to watch TV series online.

Do you think this trend will continue?

Or will cinema always attract millions of viewers in cinemas?

- The cinema will be a great attraction or an individual author's statement.

It is, in fact, today, and is divided into blockbusters and auteur films.

And television will continue to develop and increasingly integrate with the Internet.

But on the Internet, you will not get the same experience as on the big screen.

Therefore, each picture will find its viewer.